“The apocalypse is near. Football is the devil’s thing.”
No one paid attention to the bearded man, with the Bible under his arm, who warned about the end of the world on the corner of Direita and Álvares Penteado streets, in downtown São Paulo. Like every day, people rushed by.
“Today could be the day to get to paradise. Everyone was waiting for this”, said Niraltino Sá Teles, 45. Palmeiras shirt on his body and headphones on his ear, he has been a security guard at the Nelson das Bolsas store since 1999. Number 11 on Rua Direita , address of the trade, is where the Alhambra hall, where the club was founded, used to be.
On the date the team would play the World Cup final against Chelsea, Niraltino felt more proud than ever to work there.
“I knew that Palmeiras was founded in this building. About ten years ago, someone came and told them. But no one remembers that, no. If you enter the store, no one will know”, he warned, five minutes before the start of the match. that would be won by Chelsea 2-1.
He was right. None of the employees knew or had any interest in the information that the club that could be the world champion after two hours had been created there. Customers stared in amazement at the information.
The address was, in the past, Rua Marechal Deodoro, 2, where in August 1914 46 people signed the founding act of Palestra Itália, an association that in 1942 would be renamed Palmeiras. The place is a few meters from São Paulo’s ground zero, in Praça da Sé, and is also close to the Pátio do Colégio, where the city was born.
“It was where the Baruel building was and, at the top, the Alhambra hall. It was never known exactly where it was because, in the redevelopment of the Cathedral with the completion of the construction of the cathedral [em 1954]Marechal Deodoro street changed its name,” historian and journalist Julio Cesar Ragazzi told leafin 2014.
It was he who discovered that the address is now number 11 on Rua Direita.
“No one who comes here cares about football, no. The movement is the same. There are about 200 people a day. If you don’t talk, you wouldn’t even know that Palmeiras plays today”, said the saleswoman of the bag store Juliana Inácio Gomes.
Niraltino called. So much so that he couldn’t wait until his lunch hour to at least watch a few minutes of the decision.
“That’s how I saw the semifinal, against Al Ahly. I was able to watch the first and second half. I’ll do it again today. What I really wanted to see was the game at Allianz Parque and be with the crowd”, he added. the security guard, putting the phone back to his ear to listen to the narration rather than the preaching that the apocalypse was near.
The message of retired Ernesto Zanuto Sobrinho was another. With a long white beard and a tablecloth that looked like a dinner table on his head, to simulate the Ghtrah, a traditional scarf used by Arab men, he carried a poster with the names of Abel Ferreira, Breno Lopes, Raphael Veiga, Deyverson and Dudu. The coach and goal scorers in the two recent Libertadores finals and the World Cup semi-final.
Ernesto became an attraction and took dozens of photos with fans who were on Palestra Itália street, the one that passes next to the alviverde arena. To the report, he asked to send Abel Ferreira a song that he composed for the coach, with the rhymes that “Abel is a nice boy / Abel is a boy conquers / Abel came to help this team from São Paulo”.
“You can send it to him, he’ll like it. He’s Portuguese. Portuguese and Spaniards are the most important peoples in the history of humanity”, he warned.
The retiree hadn’t gone there to see the game because he knew it would be difficult. If Arlindo had escaped the service, he would have found it difficult too. Thousands of people flocked to watch what was happening in Abu Dhabi on TV screens in bars and restaurants. Many gave up and sat on the asphalt. They tried to follow along on the radio or in images on the cell phone. But the telephone signal in the area was erratic.
This created confusion. Due to different “delays” in images, the equalizing goal, scored by Raphael Veiga, was celebrated at three different times, which led security guards at the Bourbon mall, a few meters from the stadium, to believe that Palmeiras was winning by 3 to 1. But the score was 1 to 1.
“This has become a family program. I already knew it would be difficult to see it as if I were at home. But I brought my family to show the connection we have with Palmeiras”, said businessman Emerson Costa de Jesus, 36. Accompanied wife Rita and their children, Davi, 8, Ana, 6, and Cecília, 3, they spread a flag on the floor of Palestra Itália Street and stayed there.
Like many others, they followed what was happening on the field through the screams of others.
As usual in football, Palmeiras fans in the Allianz region went through hope, sadness, excitement, faith and disappointment in the space of 120 minutes. When the final whistle came, several applauded the team’s performance, as if the players could hear them from 12,000 kilometers away.
When leaving the bars, there were those who sang the anthem. Some sat on the sidewalk and began to cry, comforted by others. Until a riot broke out with military police, who were stoned and bottled. The response was with rubber bullets and gas bombs. Palmeiras employees opened the gate so fans who were trapped in the middle of the fight could take refuge. A fan was shot and died.
Anyone who went there hoping to celebrate the most dreamed of title of all and saw it all end up like that may have given reason to the pastor who preached in front of the building where the club was born. Football can be the devil’s thing.
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